The House of Lost Souls

Once again F.G Cottam has delivered a book that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “The House of Lost Souls” is an atmospheric, scary tale. Alestair Crowley and Dennis Wheatley feature,and this adds a sinister feel to the story. It is devilishly good.

This came up as a suggestion when I bought Harwood's The Ghost Writer (no relation to the Polanski movie), and its main failing is the same: after many pages of wonderfully creepy atmosphere and absorbing nested tales, the ending goes right off the rails with a truncated, poorly-explained resolution. I think both books are still well worth reading, as long as you realize they won't bring it home with a satisfying conclusion. I agree with another review as well: Cottam's language becomes repetitive in a rather distracting way. I think the adjective “blearing” was used at least six times, and it became a bit annoying. Still, he really delivers atmosphere, and I enjoyed reading this enough to check out his other work.